Fibromyalgia Case Histories

What is Fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia as Food Allergy

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

This discussion of Fibromyalgia  is continued in the book,  Aching & Fatigue.

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Change your diet and be happy

The Alpha Nutrition Program can help to resolve Fibromyalgia and related disorders. Alpha Nutrition is suggested as both a diagnostic and a treatment procedure. The first Phase of Alpha Nutrition is an attempt to clear symptoms. This is home science. You start with the hypothesis that your food intake is causing or contributing to your illness and you do an experiment to find out if it is true.

The Solution:

1. Complete, Comprehensive Diet Revision
2. Physical therapy, gentle exercise

The Avalanche Effect

Although, we are often presented with a major illness, apparently of limited duration, close scrutiny of the medical histories of many patients reveals an evolution of symptoms over several years. Patients often discount or fail to report long-term, chronic or recurrent symptoms. They are encouraged to report only major events and are discouraged from linking their symptoms together as a complex that evolves over time. Many years may be spent in the adapted dysfunctional state (ADS) with stable symptoms or smooth adaptation to a slowly decreasing level of function and/or a slowly increasing disability. Symptoms of a mild ADS are often intermittent and ambiguous. A new factor such as move to a new home, a change in eating habits, a viral infection, an injury, childbirth, or a drug reaction may precipitate sudden decompensation with collapse into a more disabling illness.

For example, a 34-year-old woman presented with an illness of 10 months duration. A consultant's medical history stated that she was well until 10 months previously when she developed a flu-like illness with lymph node swelling, fatigue, aching, and sore throat. When she did not recover as expected, extensive investigations for infections and other problems were inconclusive. Her 10 month debilitating illness featured chronic nose congestion, sore throat, generalized aching, stiffness, digestive problems, and fatigue. She had quit work 4 months ago and spent most of her days in bed. The medical reports went on to describe many test results that were not helpful in making the diagnosis nor in directing treatment. The impression of the illness, on casual review was that it was a new event, but on closer examination of her history, a different story emerged. She revealed that she had chronic "sinus problems" for 15 years (nose congestion, mucus in her throat, cheek and forehead pain from sinus congestion). Muscle pains, tension and stiffness had been occurring for over 10 years but were limited to her shoulders and lower back. She treated this discomfort with exercise, massage, and aspirin, keeping it under control. As a child she had episodes of mysterious illness with fevers, middle ear infections, nose congestion, and eczema.

She described increasing work "stress" for a year prior to her collapse. The "stress" translated into a series of relevant behavioral and diet changes-she worked longer hours, she stopped exercise classes, increased her cigarette consumption from 10 to over 20 per day and increased her coffee consumption from 2-3 to 8-10 cups per day. She took more aspirin for headaches and muscle pain and ate more fast foods, muffins, crackers, cheese, and yogurt; 70% of her daily calories were supplied by milk products, wheat, and eggs, and the 10% vegetable fraction was mostly potato.

What really happened was not a sudden new illness in an otherwise healthy, professional woman, but an avalanche effect from a cascading series of negative events over many months to years. Her history suggested that she had delayed pattern food allergy since childhood in a mild and intermittent form. She existed in an adaptive dysfunctional state and perceived herself to be "well" even during the hectic year when she shifted food intake, smoking, and other negative habits into a maladaptive range. This perception, "I am OK", while in the ADS is typical of highly motivated, goal-oriented people. Many ADS people may totter on the brink of collapse for months to years. Their suffering is associated with denial of increasing dysfunction. Physicians, operating conscientiously in the medical model, permit and even encourage this sort of self-deception. When the doctor reassures an ADS patient, who presents with symptoms too early, that everything is OK because the tests are normal, the patient is really encouraged to continue working on the illness until it is a fully-expressed, finished product. When you go too far out of range, you can expect a sudden, dramatic collapse-the avalanche-but you never know when it will occur.

If we amplify the details of her childhood history, we would reveal more convincing evidence that she had chronic symptoms from food allergy, perhaps even beginning in early infancy. A similar illness is often seen in children. For example, a 9 year old girl presented with an illness, apparently of 4 months duration which left her bed-ridden and unable to attend school for 3 months. She had nose congestion, sore throats, lymph node swelling, coughs, muscle aching, and extreme fatigue. She felt tearful, despondent, and could not concentrate on her school assignments nor remember what she had learned the day before. She had been carefully studied with many tests, and her mother had been told that the cause was " a virus; there is nothing to do but wait". Her mother described an unusual eating pattern; she craved milk and yogurt and consumed these foods with toast, often with the exclusion of all other foods, especially on her worst days. On careful review of her history, it was obvious that she had symptoms since infancy. Her mother knew that she was allergic to cows milk during the first year when she had relentless colic, bloating, continuous colds, and severe diaper rash while on a milk formula, and complete remission of symptoms after cow's milk had been replaced with a soya formula. Her symptoms seemed to clear after 2 years and her physician advised resuming dairy intake, telling mother that "infants outgrow their milk allergy". The child went on to display chronic respiratory symptoms, and had odd "mysterious" illnesses with fevers, aching, headaches, and occasional abdominal pains for the past 5 years. Although none of the prior illnesses were as severe as her present illness, the pattern was well established before the avalanche effect occurred. The wrong conclusion that "children outgrow their food allergy" has been perpetuated by pediatricians who do not notice how the food allergy pattern shifts and evolves over time and who do not study the slow, logical progression of food allergy over decades.

The 9 year old girl and the 34 year old woman are proceeding down the path of a disease-making process that continues until the problems in their food supply are corrected. The symptom expressions are the result of many factors combining at any given time. Both these examples have food allergy or "milk-wheat disease", one of the most prevalent forms of food allergy. Both improve dramatically with complete diet revision. Both do better if they continue to live without milk or wheat in their diet. The 34 year old woman must stop smoking before she is well again. As she recovers with diet revision, she finds that each cigarette she smokes makes her dopey and sick. The cigarettes alone will inflame her throat, enlarge her lymph nodes, and rob her of mental and physical energy. When she drinks coffee again she feels and anxious and aching returns sometimes in dramatic episodes of pain and stiffness.

Generalized Pain, Chronic Fatigue

A 35-year-old woman presented with muscle and joint pain, abdominal pain, bloating, and chronic fatigue. She had generalized muscular tenderness, particularly over the neck, shoulder, and interscapular muscles. The diagnosis was fibromyalgia. Her diet consisted of milk and whole wheat bread, with daily potato intake and some beef. She often made milkshake meals with milk, bananas, eggs, and engevita yeast. She cleared all symptoms by Day 10 on Alpha  ENF. This demonstration of dramatic symptom remission cancels speculation that the illness is "psychosomatic" or caused by "stress". With food re-introduction she found that many foods caused symptom eruptions and she had trouble staying on the precise track of the Alpha Nutrition Program.

Fibromylagia, Fatigue, Migraine

This 26-year-old secretary presented with an illness of over six months duration with a complex of symptoms. She stated that she declined from a high-energy athlete to a painful, tired, despondent state. Her relationship was on the rocks because she was disinterested in going-out, had lost her sex drive, and was generally irritable and easily annoyed. She described a strong "don't touch me" aversion, even to affectionate touching. She had difficulty completing ordinary activities and required extra sleep during the evening and on weekends. On her worst days, she felt too tired to go to work and often stayed in bed with generalized aching and stiffness, sleeping 12-16 hours per day. Her throat was sore, and her neck lymph nodes were enlarged and tender. She had severe, sick headaches at least once a week, lasting all day, often with nausea, occasional vomiting, and intolerance to light.

Medical investigation had been largely negative, including negative allergy skin tests. She was told she had chronic EB virus infection. She was aware of food reactivity and noted that dairy products triggered bloating and a dopey, tired feeling. She had stopped drinking any alcoholic beverages because they made her very ill with immediate flushing, quick intoxication, and a heavy hangover that lasted at least 2 days. She thought she had a good diet with a high intake of whole wheat cereals, muffins, pastas, milk, cheese, and salads; she drank 3 cups of coffee per day and about 12 ounces of white wine per week. She chose to clear on an ENF, reporting dramatic improvement of all symptoms by Day 8, and a sustained remission on Phase 1 and 2 of the Alpha Nutrition Program.

Chronic Fatigue, Aching, Dizziness

A 30 year old woman was "very sick" for over 18 months. She described a progressive illness over 2 years duration which became disabling 18 months previously, forcing her to quit her job. Her illness had been characterized by exhaustion, lymph node swelling, recurrent low grade fevers, muscle aching, stiffness, and episodes of coughing and chest congestion, diagnosed as "pneumonia " but which was not improved with antibiotics. Blood tests had been negative. She recalled earlier, less severe symptoms and had chronic rhinitis most of her life. Her hearing was now impaired with loud ringing in both ears and attacks of dizziness which kept her in bed. Her son had milk allergy in infancy, and subsequently had chronic rhinitis, ear "infections", and was hyperactive with attention deficits. She suffered decreased ability to concentrate, mental fogginess and lapses of memory. Her food intake consisted of bread, pasta, cereals, eggs, milk and dairy products, beef with some fruit and vegetables; 2 cups of coffee and 5 cups of tea per day, with no alcoholic beverages. Diet revision permitted complete recovery, but symptoms recurred promptly if she ate foods containing wheat, milk, or eggs.